Alice in Chains: The Untold Story

Schenck and the band regrouped on August 9 to discuss ideas for their first video, “We Die Young.” At the time, there had been several fires in the Los Angeles area, and Schenck suggested using a burned-down house and a swimming pool filled with debris as a location. He also wanted to replicate the swimming-pool photos into sequences for the video. Filming began on August 28 at a home in Glendale. Schenck requested the ruins be painted bright red, and they filled the pool with debris found on-site. “I can distinctly remember the looks on the family’s faces who once lived in this home watching us from the sidelines. Their expressions were quietly horrified as we filmed in their once-lovely swimming pool, using their burned furniture and their children’s burnt toys as props,” Schenck wrote.

On September 10, Schenck organized a shoot at a Hollywood studio, where the band’s performance was projected on floating and burning debris. The final cut of “We Die Young” was finished on September 17. “The band and the record company seemed to like it, and I was happy with the way it turned out. The video seemed to fit the music quite well, and I think it utilized a lot of different elements that I had not seen in music videos at that point.”20

The three-song We Die Young EP was released in the summer of 1990, with Facelift shortly after, on August 24—two days after Layne’s twenty-third birthday. Layne had given his mother a cassette copy of the finished album to listen to and asked for her feedback.

“I think there’s a sleeper on that album”—a song that was going to creep up on people—“It’s called ‘Man in the Box.’”

“Mom, I wrote that song.”

“Layne, it’s so beautiful.”

In retrospect, years later, Nancy Layne McCallum said, “I didn’t know he was the man in the box. I’m sure he just kept wanting me to get it.”21

She was ultimately proved correct about “Man in the Box” being a sleeper. But it took a while for it to catch on. First, they had to tour in support of the album.

Chapter 11

Today’s opening act is tomorrow’s headlining act.

JIMMY SHOAF

ALICE IN CHAINS HIT the road almost immediately following the release of Facelift. They warmed up by playing a few local Seattle shows first—at the annual Bumbershoot festival at Seattle Center, followed by headlining performances at the Vogue and the Central Tavern. At the time, Soundgarden was wrapping up their tour in support of Louder Than Love, so Susan hired that crew to work for Alice in Chains. The crew consisted of a drum tech, a guitar and bass tech, a sound engineer, a merchandise seller, and a tour manager.

Jimmy Shoaf was Sean’s drum tech during this first tour. In that capacity, he was responsible for setting up and maintaining Sean’s equipment before, during, and after the shows, and he was also running the lights. Susan had given him an advance copy of Facelift. He had never seen the band live before. “I’m listening to it, like, ‘These guys can’t do this shit live. There’s no fucking way. It’s overproduced,’” he said. Shoaf met the band at Mark Naficy’s warehouse after Bumbershoot in early September 1990. In a small rehearsal room, he watched them perform “Sunshine” and was amazed by what he was hearing.

Randy Biro, the guitar and bass tech, who also doubled as a stage manager, was similarly skeptical at first. “To be honest, I didn’t want to. Susan asked me to do it as a favor, because I didn’t like the band at first.” He had first seen Alice in Chains live when they opened for Soundgarden at a show in Portland. His impression at the time: “Wow, these guys are really good.” But for some reason, there was a disconnect between the band he saw live and the band he was asked to work with. Biro had also been given a copy of Facelift. “I thought they were a lame attempt at trying to do Aerosmith, mixed with [Guns n’ Roses].”

The first thing he said to the band after Soundgarden got off the tour bus and Alice in Chains got on was, “Hey, you. This is my bunk. Don’t fucking touch it.” During the first week of the tour, Biro didn’t even know any of their names.

Up first was a monthlong opening slot for Extreme, where they would be performing in clubs ranging from five hundred to fifteen hundred people in support of Facelift and Extreme’s sophomore album, Extreme II: Pornograffiti. It was an odd pairing, one Alice in Chains and their crew weren’t particularly happy with. “Extreme fans were generally little seedy guitar-player-wannabe dudes. I think they were starting to hit with that ‘More Than Words’ god-awful ballad; they took that one to the bank,” Shoaf said.